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Friday, May 6, 2016

The Reflections Of Queen Snow White by David Meredith Book Review

The Reflections Of Queen Snow White by David Meredith

Goodreads Synopsis

What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone?

On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing:

The king is dead.

The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old.

It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means?

Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White.

My Opinion

This was an interesting take on Snow Whites life after the "happily ever after". In this story, Snow has aged and lost her dear Charming. This loss had sent her into a seemingly unending depression that she can't escape, causing her to shamingly ignore her daughter Raven. One of these days, over a year after Charming's passing, Snow stumbles upon her Arglist's (her step-mother) magic mirror. It is the mirror that shows Snow parts of her life that she had tucked deep into her memories, teaching Snow that there was more to her than her deep love for her late husband. It show's flashbacks of what it was like for her growing up under Arglist's rule, how she was practically shunned and wore a burlap sack in place of proper clothing. The mirror reminds Snow how she used to have strength within herself that she has apparently forgotten.

I enjoyed so much about the story. For one, I appreciated how Meredith incorporated German into names and places. I for one though Charming's full name was pretty great; Charming Von Gerechtigkeit Von Freide Von Gnadenbrot, Crowned Prince of Geschictia. I mean c'mon, that's pretty great right? Also, the story itself was very realistic, it showed that there is no such thing as perfect and how even though you can whole heatedly love someone, you have your own strength to rely on as well. Also, Meredith nailed the length of a fairy tale quite well, it wasn't too long, but it was also not so short that the details weren't ignored.
Though I enjoyed the story greatly, I did have a few problems with it as well. For one, I found a few grammatical errors within the story that momentarily distracted me. That, and when the mirror was speaking to Snow, I feel like there could have been a significantly less amount exclamation points in his (it's?) dialogue. Oh! and for goodness sake I did not expect Snow's story to be so violent. Holy cow, it was a little crazy. Especially when they go on about harming's wedding gift to Snow...let's just say Arglist was in a world of pain when that went down. That and the gruesome details of Snow's poisoning, that's a whole other thing. Don't get me wrong, what happened to her is a hell of a lot more realistic than the prince waking her up from a long sleep with nothing more than a kiss. Either way this book was better than I expected, a fun read for those who enjoy fairy-tales. (3.5/5)

I know this gif didn't really have anything to do with this review, but I just thought it was funny...Comment if you know where it's from, so I know I'm not the only one.

**This book was generously given to me by the author for an honest review**